The Magic Inside Him
by slightlysmall
Summary: Dennis stood beside him, shuffling his feet and looking down. Colin wanted to console his brother, but he wasn't sure how. After all, Dennis was probably a Muggle, like their parents. Gently, Dennis placed the camera in Colin's hands. "Take pictures?" he asked. Colin smiled, hearing in his brother's sincerity all that wasn't said. "I will."


**For the Hogwarts Games Competition, where I used the prompts "Oak," the emotion "Blissful", the dialogue, "There's something I've always wanted to ask...", the class "potions," and the work count of 1210.**

**Also for the Snakes and Ladders Competition, with the character Colin Creevey.**

**Also for the As Strong As We Are United Competition, with the prompts blue, and gentle (I used gently).**

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Colin Creevey didn't think he would ever get used to being magical. Even as a child, he had approached the world with such delight. Colin saw magic in everything - leaves changing colors in the fall; the stems of daffodils pushing through frozen ground at the end of winter; the way his little brother looked up to him. In fact, Dennis once said, in the early days before he knew it was true, that magic appeared to follow him. Flowers perked up when he walked by; things moved in ways that just shouldn't be _possible. _But around Colin Creevey, they happened.

So in all honesty there was part of him that wasn't surprised at all when the elderly woman in a pointed hat showed up at his house to say he was a wizard. Of course he was. It was the only thing that made sense. But the fact still left him humbled, and completely in awe. _I'm magical,_ he would say to himself. _There is magic in me._

On September the first, in 1992, he stood in King's Cross Station like he had so many times before, and yet this time he was saying goodbye. He was going to a boarding school for wizards - because that is what he was. It was beyond his wildest dreams.

Dennis stood beside him, shuffling his feet and looking down. Colin wanted to console his brother, but he wasn't sure how. After all, Dennis was probably a Muggle, like their parents. Professor McGonagall said that Muggle-borns were rare. Finally, Dennis reached into the backpack he had brought with him for the car ride and pulled out a camera. Gently, he placed it in Colin's hands. "Take pictures?" he asked.

Colin smiled, hearing in his brother's sincerity all that wasn't said. "I will."

At age eleven, Colin's greatest wish was to please his brother, and he took on Dennis's last request with ardor. A very small boy, Colin trotted along behind his classmates as they shuffled from one place to another, trying to find their classrooms without getting lost. His first Friday, Colin made his way down a staircase, and, just as he got off of it, he turned to see it moving. Moving! Dennis would be amazed. He turned around and pulled the camera, always around his neck, to his eye. Professor Lockhart told him there was a way to develop pictures so they would come to life as well. Colin couldn't wait to see what this one looked like.

His detour for the picture had made him late for Potions. It was his first-ever class in the dungeon, and he paused at the door, camera already in hand. A greasy-haired man was standing at the front, looking sour. His black robes and black hair, in the musty windowless walls of the dungeon, reminded him of some of the movie sets from old Alfred Hitchcock movies. He snapped a picture.

Later that evening, Colin Creevey served his first detention.

"You will be writing lines, Mr. Creevey. You will have no need for your camera, so please leave it behind," Professor Snape had said. Colin nodded and obliged, albeit unwillingly. Dennis would have _loved _to see what a magical detention was like. Although, in the end, Colin was disappointed in this respect. It seemed that part of the punishment was not getting to use magic to do it.

With a sore hand and saddened spirit, Colin trudged back to the Common Room after his detention. That bushy-haired girl a year above him, the one who was friends with Harry Potter, was sitting alone in a corner, nose buried in a book. Colin wondered where Harry was. Over the summer holidays, he read all about him. How amazing to have a real celebrity in his dorm! With Professor Lockhart teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, Colin couldn't believe his luck at the celebrity saturation at his school. If only Dennis were there, too. But no matter. Colin retrieved his camera from his dorm room, carefully lay his wand on the luxurious couch by the fireplace, and snapped another picture.

It was probably the twenty-fifth picture he had taken of his wand in just the four days he had been at school, but it was really just so magnificent. English oak, twelve and three-quarters inches long, dragon heartstring core, Ollivander had told him oak wands chose wizards who were loyal and courageous. When he had said that, it brought more bliss to Colin than even the shower of gold and silver sparks from when the wand picked him. Colin Creevey - loyal and brave. He liked the sound of it. The flash of his camera went off and he advanced the roll of film.

From what he had seen in his few days at the new school, Harry Potter very rarely went anywhere without his two friends. So the sight of one of them in the corner meant that Harry wasn't around. He was probably doing something important, but no matter. The next day was Saturday and Colin could sleep in. He found himself a table, piled up his books, and began his homework.

A few hours later, the sound of the portrait hole opening startled him away from the book he had fallen asleep in. Harry Potter and his friend - that boy who had thrown up slugs earlier that day, Colin remembered with sadness, as he wasn't allowed to document it - had finally come back. Slamming his book shut, he scurried out of his chair and in front of the two older boys. "Harry! Harry Potter! Could I talk to you for a moment? See I've been here waiting for you all night and now you're back and there is something I have always wanted to ask you, so can I please ask it?"

"What do you want, Colin?" Harry asked, and he sounded annoyed. Colin swallowed. It was so late. He was probably just very tired.

"Well, if you are really tired I suppose it could wait until morning, but I just really wanted to know, if it's okay, I mean, well, what's it like to be famous? Is it as lovely as it seems?"

"It's terrible," Harry said, and walked past him towards his dorm.

Colin sighed as he made his way back to his study table. Perhaps the middle of the night was the wrong time to ask such a question. Now that he thought of it, Harry had looked a bit blue when he came in. That was probably it. Too awake now to go to sleep, Colin got a scrap of parchment and began to compose his third letter that week to Dennis.

_Dear Dennis,_

_Today was _such _an exciting day! First I got up early to watch Quidditch practice, and while I was there, one of the students tried to curse someone and ended up throwing up slugs! I tried to take a picture for you, but Harry Potter said I couldn't. Do you remember him from the books? Yeah, he actually talked to me! Anyway, later I was going to class and I got distracted on the way -_

But Colin never finished his letter, because he fell asleep against it and smeared the ink.

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**The conversation between Colin and Harry at the end is technically not canon (because we didn't see it happen). However, I checked the events of the day with the HP calendar for the year on the Lexicon to get what events happened that day in Harry's life. The dawn Quidditch practice, the slug incident, and the late-night detentions for Harry and Ron were on the first Friday of the school year.**


End file.
